Best "start out" cities/metros (college, to live)

[CHICAGOLAND92]

Which cities are good for recent college grads?
Young population, job opportunities, affordable, etc.

What cities do you expect to become good start out cities in the next 5-10 years?

[seldomseen]

Charlotte, Raleigh, Portland (Maine)

[Vagus]

New York.
Completely unaffordable but you should definitely live there while you're young and it won't bother you to continue to live like a student (small spaces, roommates) for a while longer.
Definitely scores high for job opportunities and young population.

[Fishtacos]

NYC, D.C. Boston, Chicago, L.A., SF, SD, ATL............all are sizeable cities that have a lot of young people. All different places and some very expensive. But if you are looking for a lot of young people in decent sized cities...these would be some.

[chitown68]

Probably cities like Austin, Columbus, ATL, Raleigh/Durham and Nashville.

[Steve-o]

Madison seems to attract young folks, seems like a good place to start out IMO.

[compelled to reply]

Raleigh, Nashville, Atlanta, and Austin are awesome places to build a career with young and educated populations.

[carolinadreamin']

The mid-size cities on this list, a lot of the same cities people are saying.

America's smartest cities - Aug. 31, 2006

[SpeedyAZ]

NYC, D.C. Boston, Chicago, L.A., SF, SD, ATL............all are sizeable cities that have a lot of young people. All different places and some very expensive. But if you are looking for a lot of young people in decent sized cities...these would be some.

I don't know that D.C. would be a city with a ton of young people. I've been there and it was much more of a mature city than a city filled with young people.

Some cities that I'd consider to be good for those to start out in:

Austin, TX
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
Denver, CO
San Francisco, CA
Portland, OR

[astroline95]

i'm gonna go with...

providence, RI
atlanta, GA
columbus, OH
stamford, CT
philadelphia, PA
dallas, TX